How many of you have learned several languages when you were growing up?
By Hanni Harel
@Hannihar (130218)
Israel
July 27, 2017 9:58pm CST
English is my mother tongue but since I am Jewish we also have the Hebrew language. I went to Hebrew School after day school but did not learn much. I had to start over when came to Israel to learn Hebrew the way they speak it here. For quite some time I did not open my mouth because I was so afraid to make mistakes. One day I just opened my mouth and it came flowing out and now I do not care if I make mistakes. I ask people to explain if do not understand something in simple Hebrew. Many Israelis like to practice their English and they tell us we have to speak Hebrew because it is the language of the country. So, I say to them you want to learn English, but, if you try to speak to us in English how are we going to learn Hebrew? I also had people speak to me in English while I speak to them in Hebrew and I continue on so then they switch to Hebrew.
9 people like this
8 responses
@kiran8 (15348)
• Mangalore, India
28 Jul 17
In India most people from the southern parts would learn at least three languages. English, Hindi which is the official language and the state language. In my case I learnt all these three languages and my mother tongue which is Thulu and Tamil since it is spoken widely Bangalore. So I have learnt 5 languages.
2 people like this
@cancergirl (918)
• Beijing, China
28 Jul 17
Chinese is my mother tongue, and I am learning English by myself now
2 people like this
@Hannihar (130218)
• Israel
28 Jul 17
That is great and how it coming along learning English? How are you teaching yourself English? A lot of Israelis have learned English from programs they watch with Hebrew as the main language in the show or movie and English subtitles. I used to watch soap operas here in Hebrew and Spanish and follow the subtitles and get the gist of it.
1 person likes this
@hereandthere (45645)
• Philippines
30 Jul 17
@Nawsheen what are the official languages in mauritius?
@Hannihar (130218)
• Israel
28 Jul 17
Nawsheen, I learned French in High School and when I came the year before I came to live in Israel when the tour guide would speak in French I remembered some. I have learned from people that came to live here a little bit of their languages and also Hebrew here. I have forgotten most of what I learned in French.
2 people like this
@Hannihar (130218)
• Israel
31 Jul 17
@just4him
No, I was not born in Israel. I went to live here as an adult so Hebrew is not my mother tongue. It is though the language of the countries among other languages here. The top languages used to be Hebrew, English and Arabic and then lots of Russians came so Russian was added and English put on the back burner.
1 person likes this
@petatonicsca (7070)
• Japan
3 Aug 17
I grew up speaking English and French. Now I am also fluent in Japanese and can read German and Biblical Hebrew (but not modern.) I teach at an international school in Japan and most of the kids there speak at least one language besides English, Japanese being the most common and then Korean. We also have Tagalog, Swedish, Dutch, Chinese, Hindi, Bengali, and Russian speakers to name a few. I think having more than one language under your belt makes you better able to think in diverse ways.
@petatonicsca (7070)
• Japan
3 Aug 17
@Hannihar I'm from the middle of the Midwest in the States where nobody speaks other languages. My mom was a French teacher and she figured bilingualism was good. I use Biblical Hebrew to study the Bible.
@Hannihar (130218)
• Israel
3 Aug 17
@petatonicsca
Where are you from? I am from Minneapolis. I see.
@Hannihar (130218)
• Israel
3 Aug 17
Denise, you are right. Where are you originally from? It also makes it fun talking in different languages and people around you do not know what you are saying. I went back to the States since living here in Israel twice. Once in the beginning to bring things here and the 2nd to make some money. I was in a Target store and somebody said something in Hebrew the way they talk now and someone that did not understand was watching and the guy was so surprised that someone answered him back that he asked me to pay for his things and I told him no. What do you use Biblical Hebrew for?
@Mona_li (60)
• Paris, France
30 Jul 17
I know what you mean. It makes me wonder as my daughter is starting to speak and she is bilingual as im hebrew speaking and ger dad is french. We live in france so i guesse it will be easier for her so speak french so i wil have to insist the way u do. As u said- the only way to do it is to be surrounded by it...
@Hannihar (130218)
• Israel
31 Jul 17
Mona, why did you leave Israel? How is it in France? A lot of the French are coming here because of anti-Semitism or don't you feel lit at all there?
@Hannihar (130218)
• Israel
31 Jul 17
@Mona_li
Is your husband Jewish? I am asking not to be nosy but because maybe he wanted to go live there because he would not understand how a Jew should not live there. It is weird. You went there while other Jews are leaving. I do not know if I would ever want to live in Europe after what they did to our people. Who knows maybe you will come back Home again and not leave.
@Hannihar (130218)
• Israel
31 Jul 17
Marlina, very true.
Some people are better at learning languages than others.
@dollaboy (6048)
•
28 Jul 17
Nice to know about that, Always a good thing to learn many languages, It Surely helps.
@Hannihar (130218)
• Israel
28 Jul 17
Yes it does. Here people stress Hebrew is the language of the country and that is true, but, kids need to learn English too and other languages if they can. That helps in getting jobs.
